Anti-Valentine's Day Countdown -- Are We Thinking Massacre and Bloodshed or Roses and Romance?

Hola from Topanga!

It's Sunday afternoon, I'm wearing shorts and a tank top (how can we not love SoCal?), listening to both "Nothing But the Blues" and "Alma del Barrio" on the radio, watching a ruby-throated hummingbird go manic on the azaleas, and I'm taking a break from doing my last-chance edits on GWYF-UC for the paperback version to write the first UPDATE. The paperback's due out this May! Can't believe it. Watch for upcoming readings and events -- especially if you missed the first round when the hardcover came out this past April.

Also I'm fucking with a truly twisted story I just placed with Chelsea, titled "The Meat-Eaters of Marrakesh," and due out in June. Now, this is a story that tears the concept of anti-Valentine's a new asshole. Yeah, we're talking pretty influences like Lautreamont, Ingeborg Bachmann, the two Bowleses, Burroughs, not to mention the mysterious land of Morocco itself. Definitely on the perverse side, this story. How love can go really fucking wrong. I read it last week at closing nite for the latest Oxblood offering at Glaxa studios before their play, and the packed house responded great. Always nice when you're plagued with doubts as I think most artists and scribblers are -- perpetually -- unless you're blessed with full-blown narcissism. Also a chance the story might get a Spanish translation via lit mavens in Barcelona, land of Gaudi. I'll keep you posted.

By the way, would you all like me to add a WRITING TIPS section on the left? Maybe I can get short nuggets from various scribbling buddies along with my own words and favorites from other sources.

Also, just this past week I did some spoken word recording for resident maestro Brit musician Dave Dale for his forthcoming CD "Reef." We recorded in Colin Hay's (of Men at Work) hyper-cool basement recording studio -- kinda weird, 'cuz Dave asked me to read from my work -- but without feeling chained to narrative. What a concept! So I unhooked the words from their sentences, from the storyline, and winged them out there in that weird incubated world that the headphones and mike create, with Dave's trippy ambient music "Pressure Suit" washing over my brain lobes. I'll let you guys know when that song and the CD is ready. Maybe I'll try to figure out a way to post it, as well. Or maybe mp3lit.com will add it to the site. Are there other sections you'd like to hear on their site? Let me know. I was hoping to get the "Cow" piece for download. Always a sure mood-picker-upper!

Finally, the second book is in the works after a helluva busy year. It's a detective novel featuring a female detective. More Los Angeles, but some new locales. Think I'll be pretty mysterious about it for right now since I'm just falling into that noir-world dreamstate necessary for me to create a new book. 

Okay, back to the grind. Please be sure to sign up for the mailing list if you haven't already. Just click on E-MAIL to the left and follow instructions there. And also, don't hesitate to let me know what you'd like to see here on this site. It's like a reef, a cyber-reef, living and breathing and changing -- as much as technically-impaired me can do! And many thanks for simply visiting the site and reading this far!!! Also, don't forget to keep checking the CALENDAR section for the latest happenings in the L.A. area!

Ciao for now.

Rachel

P.S. About that image up above? That was one of the St. Martin's ideas for book covers that went the way of the saber-tooth tiger. Coming soon will be other GWYF-UC book covers that local whiz graphic designer Ben Ball and ultra-cool street artist Becca and I came up with and that weren't used by St. Martin's. Then you can decide which one was best! Thought it might be fun to share some of the insider dope on actual book publishing -- my head's still spinning from it all.